One of the most depressing articles I've ever read

[Questor]

Keep in mind that Bloomberg is not a right wing conspiracy news source. They usually tell it like it is.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aHA4PMI1G2ks&pos=1

Shrinking U.S. Labor Force Keeps Unemployment Rate From Rising
Share Business ExchangeTwitterFacebook| Email | Print | A A A By Bob Willis and Courtney Schlisserman

Jan. 9 (Bloomberg) -- An exodus of discouraged workers from the job market kept the U.S. unemployment rate from climbing above 10 percent in December, economists said.

Had the labor force not decreased by 661,000 last month, the jobless rate would have been 10.4 percent, according to economists including David Rosenberg at Gluskin Sheff & Associates in Toronto and Harm Bandholz at UniCredit Research in New York.

“The actual unemployment rate is higher than shown by the official numbers,” Bandholz said yesterday after a Labor Department report released in Washington showed the economy unexpectedly lost 85,000 jobs in December while the jobless rate was unchanged.

About 1.7 million Americans opted out of the workforce from July through December, representing a 1.1 percent drop that marks the biggest six-month decrease since 1961, the Labor Department report showed. The share of the population in the labor force last month fell to the lowest level in 24 years.

December’s 10 percent unemployment rate matched the median forecast of economists surveyed by Bloomberg News. It was shy of the 26-year high of 10.1 percent reached two months earlier.

The so-called underemployment rate -- which includes part- time workers who’d prefer a full-time position and people who want work but have given up looking -- rose to 17.3 percent in December from 17.2 percent.

The number of discouraged workers, those not looking for work because they believe none is available, climbed to 929,000 last month, the most since records began in 1994.

Length of Unemployment

The backdrop to the disillusionment is that it’s taking longer and longer to find work, economists said. Workers were unemployed for 29.1 weeks on average last month, the most since records began in 1948.

“Longer-term unemployment is one of the biggest problems,” said Bandholz. “Payroll declines will come to a halt in the next couple of months, but the people who are unemployed are having problems getting a job and it’s getting tougher by the month.”

Revised figures showed payrolls climbed by 4,000 in November. The gain was the first since the economic slump began in December 2007.

“Workers seem to be particularly discouraged by this recession,” said Chris Rupkey, chief financial economist at Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ Ltd. in New York.

Participation Rate

The participation rate, or the share of the population in the labor force, fell to 64.6 percent in December, the lowest level since 1985, from 64.9 percent.

The labor force will probably grow this year as the economy continues to expand and Americans believe jobs will be easier to get. That will mean the unemployment rate will head higher because there won’t be enough jobs available to satisfy the demand for work.

“The exodus from the labor force can’t contain the unemployment rate indefinitely,” said Ryan Sweet, a senior economist at Moody’s Economy.com in West Chester, Pennsylvania. “We expect unemployment to resume rising over the next few months, peaking near 10.5 percent in the third quarter.”

Federal Reserve policy makers, while noting stabilization in the labor market, have expressed concern about unemployment and poor job prospects. That’s one reason policy makers will keep the benchmark interest rate near zero longer than most anticipate, said John Ryding.

Fed ‘On Hold’

“We continue to believe that the Fed will leave monetary policy on hold throughout 2010 in light of the high level of un- and under-utilized labor resources,” Ryding, chief economist at RDQ Economics in New York, said in a note to clients. The median forecast of economists surveyed by Bloomberg News last month projected the first rate increase would come in the third quarter of this year.

Treasury two-year notes yesterday gained the most in three weeks following the worse-than-expected payroll numbers. The yield fell five basis points, or 0.05 percentage point, to 0.97 percent at 4:31 p.m. in New York.

President Barack Obama on Dec. 8 proposed additional spending on the nation’s transportation system, tax credits to spur hiring by small businesses and incentives to make homes more energy efficient in a second round of efforts to cut the jobless rate.

“We’re going to have to work harder to create jobs.” U.S. Labor Secretary Hilda Solis said in an interview on Bloomberg Television. “This is a very stubborn recession.”

To contact the reporters on this story: Bob Willis in Washington bwillis@bloomberg.net; Courtney Schlisserman in Washington at cschlisserma@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: January 9, 2010 00:00 EST

[magooch]

It's also very depressing to have to wait on a link to find out what is so depressing.

[Foxxtrot]

President Barack Obama on Dec. 8 proposed additional spending on the nation’s transportation system, tax credits to spur hiring by small businesses and incentives to make homes more energy efficient in a second round of efforts to cut the jobless rate.


Unless your home is built before 1980, I don't know just how much you can do to your house to make it more efficient?
Weather stripping, new water heater, heat pump, and newer windows would cover it. I would agree to work on infrastructure such as bridges and overpasses....but I don't want some high speed train crap that people don't want or need. Amtrak is a damn failure like every other govt run service. The reason this guy hasn't a clue....he has never  worked in the private sector and he doesn't understand what a majority of Americans think or feel. 

[Swampman]

Went back on full time this week.  We are hiring 10 people next week.

[yellowtail3]

Glad to hear it, swamp man... now if they'll just hire me...

[bearmgc]

If folks could move to a new job, it might get better. How come with all the empty houses out there, rentals aren't coming down in cost? There's 2 empty houses on my block for sale, been for sale for awhile, and a family can't get into a rental house for less than $1000/mo, not counting fist/last and security deposit. I'm not getting this at all. Tons of houses for sale, sitting empty.

Swampman, congrats on your new job.

[Echo4Lima]

12 house for sale on my street.  I see most of my neighbors during the day now.

Hows that go? "When your neighbor looses his/her job its a recession". "Its a depression when you loose yours".

Central CA town of Mendota has an estimated 60% unemployment rate. Recession and water shut off to protect a 2" fish are the cause!!

[slim rem 7]

 bear thats what i don t really understand.. are the owners just in denial ..
 i know a fella with an house right beside an railroad track.. he just don t understand its not 1994 or
 whatever, an thinks hes gonna get 700 for an old 6 room frame house....thank god my house ,,brick,, 9 rooms an i pay 400 a month..thank you lord for all blessings..
 kinda wish i didn t need a house this size but the wife puts sentimental value on everything she ever owned..she had very little, as a young person,an worked hard for it all. so i don t argue..
echo,, that fish priority is just crazy..dang snail fish  huh..